Okay, Stormy is a beaver orphan in rehab and I guess that’s interesting enough to follow on Youtube. But that’s not what got my attention.
They just found out that she has some kind of tummy parasite but that’s not what got my attention either.
This is about a minute of video watching her sleep – dreaming up a storm. Castor REM sleep. Look at her eyelid. Look at her panting chest. Look at her little paw movements.
WHAT DO BEAVERS DREAM ABOUT???
I must know. And since I can’t know I must speculate. You are welcome to participate. Send your comments below.
As a child psychologist I can’t say this dream looks entirely happy. Is she dreaming of whatever tragedy caused the separation from her family? Is she upset about rehab or missing her siblings? It doesn’t look THAT unhappy though. Is she dreaming of not being able to reach some really tasty food?
Do beavers vocalize in their sleep?
If she were an older beaver who had lived in the world a bit maybe she’d dream about a stubborn piece of wood that just wouldn’t stay put in the dam? Or that elusive tree she couldn’t chew down”?
Some sensitive souls will fantasize that she’s dreaming of the bad trap that killed hermom. Which makes sense from a human point of view, I might dream of that. But beavers aren’t like humans. So I can’t think their dreams are like ours either.
I spent hours watching beavers and can say with certainty they do not have painful inner lives. They are simplisticly content most of the time. The needs they perceive are fairly easy to solve. And I am not insulting them. I say that with great admiration.
How happy would we be if we mostly wanted the things around us that we could have?
I imagine that if you could put a microphone on their sleeping brains equipped with a translator you’d hear something like
“MMMM willow leaves“…. and every now and then “Oohh not enough willow leaves:”…. and then again“MMMMM enough willow leaves“.
